Apparatus for manufacturing closed vessels from pulp.



No. 7l0,694.

Patented Oct. 7,1902. I F. B. HOWARD. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CLOSED VESSELS FROMPULP.

(Application filed Jan. 16, 1902.)

(No Model.)

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UNiTno STATss ATnNT OFFICE.

FRANK ll. HOWARD, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO LAFLIN & RAND POlVDER COMPANY, OF NElV YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW? YORK.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CLOSED VESSELS FROM PULP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,694, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed January 16,1902. Serial No. 90,024. I (No model.)

To (all: Ll/72,0772, it WMLZ/ concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK B. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Manufacturing.Closed Vessels from Pulp, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to apparatus for manufacturing closed vessels from pulp, with the object in view of providing simple and effective means for producing vessels of this char acter having their interiors and exteriors formed into prescribed shape in an efficient and rapid manner.

My present apparatus follows in many particulars the form of apparatus shown, described,andclai1nedin myPatentNo. 398,397, dated February 26, 1889, in which an elastic former was employed for the purpose of pressing the pulp under enforced expansion toward the sides and ends of the perforated mold, thereby causing a deposit of a wall of substantially uniform thickness of pulp around the interior of the perforated mold.

In many vessels, such as casks and the like for containing goods for shipment, it becomes of great importance that the walls should be made thicker at certain points for the purpose of reinforcing their strength, and my present invention particularly relates to means for accomplishing that end as well as for forming walls of uniform thickness, if so desired.

A practical enbodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a view of the apparatus in Vertical section, showing in full lines the position of the former when extended, the pulp between it and the interior of the mold being omitted at one side to show the interior wall of the mold; and Fig. 2 is a transverse central section.

The important distinction between my present invention and that shown in my patent is the air-tight non-elastic collapsible former for determining the shape of the interior of the vessel as distinguished from the elastic former which adapted itself to the interior terior toward the exterior.

shapeof the mold. By the use of this inelastic former for determining positively the interior shape of the vpssel 1 am enabled to form the mold for determining the exterior shape of the barrel in such a manner that the wall may be thickened or shaped as may be found desirable for purposes of increased strength and safety in handling the cask or vessel.

In the form chosen to illustrate my invention the mold is made to gradually curve outwardly from the opposite ends toward the center, following the lines of an ordinary cask or barrel, while the nonelastic former is made cylindrical; The side walls of the mold are formed in three sections, (denoted by a ct G2,) each forming, in the present instance, where the vessel is to be circular in cross-section, one-third of the circular wall of the com pleted mold and so fitted at their edges as to remain substantially liquid-tight when assembled. assembled adjustment by means of upper and lower head-pieces, denoted, respectively, by b and c, hinged at Z) c to the upper and lower ends of the section a of the body or circular portion of the mold. The walls of the sections (L a a as well as the heads Z; c, are provided with perforations intended to be at equal distances apart for the purpose of permitting the flow of the pulp under pressure to be substantially the same in all directions from the in- The head Z) is provided with a shallow recess 1) for the reception of the upper end of the body portion of the mold, the recess 1)? being slightly tapered for the purpose of drawing the sections into close relation to each other when the heads ofthe mold are drawn together. In like mauher the opposite head 0 of the mold is provided with a shallow recess 0 for the purpose of receiving the lower end of the body portion of the mold and drawing the parts into close relation to each other when the heads are drawn toward one another. The heads I) and c are forcibly drawn toward each other by means of a thumb-nut d, working on the threaded end 6 of a rod f, hinged at f to the head c and extending through an open slot 1) in the head I). The head Z) is further pro- These sections ct a a are held in vided with an opening 12 formed centrally therein for the reception of a plug g, which extends inwardly from the inner wall of the head I) a sufficient distance to determine the bunghole in the head of the completed pulp vessel. This plugg is also utilized to carry the former, which is to determine the size and shape of the vessel, as follows: A tube h extends downwardly through the plug 9 toward the bottom of the interior of the mold, and that portion Within the mold is provided with perforations 72..

The non-elastic former (denoted by i) is provided with an inwardly-extending neck i, which is made fast to the tube h at a point inwardly from the head I) a distance corresponding to the intended thickness of the head of the pulp vessel, and the tube h is intended to extend downwardly Within the former i to a point spaced from the lower extended end of the former a distance corresponding to the distance between the tube 77. and the side walls of the extended former. The object of this is to hold the former 1 in its collapsed condition (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) in position where it will have a tendency to expand about equally in all directions under the pressure of air forced therein.

The material of the non-elastic formert' may be chosen at pleasure, a firm oil-silk being that which I have found it practicable to employ.

The interior of the mold is lined throughout with wire-gauze and for the purpose of making the former i cleave from the interior of the compressed pulp at the completion of the vessel I introduce a small air-tube 7t through the plug g, exterior to the tube 7L, and extend the tube 7: into a valve-chamber Z at the side of the tube h, where the tube may be opened and closed by means of a valve m, under the control of a hand-wheel 'n, to admit air from the tube 71, through the tube 70, into the space between the exterior of the non-elastic former t' and the interior of the compressed-pulp wall of the vessel. The tube It is supposed to be connected with an air-compressor of any well-known or approved form. (Not shown.)

In operation the plug g, with the parts carried thereby, having been removed and the heads and side walls of the same having been assembled pulp of the proper consistency is poured in through the opening b in the head. The plug g, together with the parts carried thereby, is then inserted into the position shown in Fig.1,closing the opening b and with the non-elastic former in its collapsed state, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) the valve 77. being adjusted to close the admission of air through the pipe 70. Air-pressure is then admitted through the tube It to the interior of the non-elastic former, which expands under the pressure until it finally reaches its completely-expanded form, in the present instance cylindrical form, leaving a space between it and the interior of the mold to determine the thickness of the wall of the completed vessel. As the former expands under air-pressure, the pulp is forced toward the heads and walls of the mold, the liquid from the pulp escaping through the perforated heads and walls of the mold until the former has reached the limit of expansion. The valve it may then be opened to admit air to the exterior of the former, which will permit the latter to cleave from the inner wall of the pulp, and when collapsed the plug g, together with the parts carried thereby, may be removed, the mold opened, and the pulp vessel thus formed removed from the mold to be dried.

hat I claim is Apparatus for making closed pulp vessels comprising a mold having its sides and ends provided with manifold perforations and formed in sections capable of being opened and closed and shaped on their interior to determine the exterior form of the article and an air-tight non-elastic expansible former adapted to be inserted within the said mold and to receive air-pressure to force the pulp toward the sides and ends of the mold to positively determine the size and shape of the interior of the vessel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of January, 1902.

FRANK B. HOWARD.

Vitnesses FREDK. HAYNES, O. S. SUNDGREN. 

